Very odd, this block of emotion. So we are all able to feel a block of emotion... starving people don't keep us up at night, a rape in a distant country isn't as alarming as our own neighbourhood, etc.

In genocide, this is similar. People caught up in it report no attachment to the other group.

When I go to weddings, I cry during vows. I get mushy, light headed, whatever. When I take the photos at weddings, my mind frame is on capturing the moment- the light, the composition, my professionalism, my gear maintenance, my next shot. I NEVER cry or even listen to the vows. It's a job.

I think I can understand where this photographer is coming from. What is framed in this photo is heart wrenching. I'll admit, I can't even look at it. The first day it was posted here, I had to walk away front the computer... I have seen it before, obviously, and I know it gets me every time. But, I know having experienced what the moment is like taking photos, what the outcome is, is very different. TONES of behind the scenes factors.

We can see now how this greatly impacted his life. I don't know too many details other than what has been mentioned... but I thought about what I would have done after the harsh criticism. My best answer would be to start a fundraising and awareness campaign in the honour of this little girl to try to salvage some grace for her life. And then dedicate every moment of the rest of my life to this.

(31-01-2012 08:47 AM)germanyt Wrote: The thought of children in Africa dying doesn't exactly keep me up at night. Its' a shit world we live in. What bothers me is the missed opportunity to potentially save a life. All in the name of professional photojournalism.

What was he supposed to do, exactly? Scoop her up and take her home and adopt her, ensure she's got 3 meals a day, a roof over her head and that she's properly educated until she's college age? Then maybe send her to college and help her get a job? Because, in reality, anything short of that is not "saving her life". Picking her up and giving her something to eat solves the problem for a very, very short time. And, that girl looks like she needed medical attention, probably more than a photojournalist was competent to administer. If he handed her a sandwich, it could have killed her.

I don't know anything about this picture or the photographer so I can't even guess as to why he may have killed himself so won't comment on that. What I will say is that absolutely stunning picture can do more to raise awareness, calls to action and ultimately save lives (not one but many) than anything he could have done to help that one small child.

That poor child's circumstances were not the result or fault of the people who stumbled upon her. Her circumstances transcended anything they did or probably could reasonably be expected to do. It feels, to me at least, like you are creating an expectation of this person that no one could live up to. His job was to capture a moment and tell a story with a picture. I think he did a fantastic job of that. Feeling he somehow "deserved" to die, or however you framed it, because he couldn't save her just seems unfair and unreasonable to me.

Shackle their minds when they're bent on the cross
When ignorance reigns, life is lost

(31-01-2012 08:47 AM)germanyt Wrote: The thought of children in Africa dying doesn't exactly keep me up at night. Its' a shit world we live in. What bothers me is the missed opportunity to potentially save a life. All in the name of professional photojournalism.

What was he supposed to do, exactly? Scoop her up and take her home and adopt her, ensure she's got 3 meals a day, a roof over her head and that she's properly educated until she's college age? Then maybe send her to college and help her get a job? Because, in reality, anything short of that is not "saving her life". Picking her up and giving her something to eat solves the problem for a very, very short time. And, that girl looks like she needed medical attention, probably more than a photojournalist was competent to administer. If he handed her a sandwich, it could have killed her.

I don't know anything about this picture or the photographer so I can't even guess as to why he may have killed himself so won't comment on that. What I will say is that absolutely stunning picture can do more to raise awareness, calls to action and ultimately save lives (not one but many) than anything he could have done to help that one small child.

That poor child's circumstances were not the result or fault of the people who stumbled upon her. Her circumstances transcended anything they did or probably could reasonably be expected to do. It feels, to me at least, like you are creating an expectation of this person that no one could live up to. His job was to capture a moment and tell a story with a picture. I think he did a fantastic job of that. Feeling he somehow "deserved" to die, or however you framed it, because he couldn't save her just seems unfair and unreasonable to me.

Carrying her in a truck the whopping 3km to the nearest camp maybe. That would have been plenty. He didn't even do that. Even if she had the strength to walk 3km she probably had no idea where it was. This poor girl probably died and got picked apart by the birds because this piece of shit photographer didn't have the human decency to save her life. I can't imagine how he slept at night knowing that he left her there. I know it'd drive me to suici............ oh wait....

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect.”

How do you know it was 3km to the nearest camp? How do you know they could have treated her? And, if they could, how do you know they could have fed her and kept her alive? It's not like this is the only starving child in Africa. She is 1 of thousands. Maybe 1 of tens of thousands. Maybe 1 of hundreds of thousands. Is his moral obligation to this one kid only? What about to all the kids he did not stop to photograph and you have never seen? What is the obligation to them? I have no idea what happened to that girl but, judging by the picture, I assume she died. If you think there was anything a photographer could have done to change that, I think you are deluding yourself and putting blame in the wrong place.

And, speaking of blame, since I'm sure you realize this kid is one of many, what are you doing to save them? Anything? Are you volunteering time? Giving money? Bringing food? Anything at all? Or, is it just "out of site, out of mind" for you?

Shackle their minds when they're bent on the cross
When ignorance reigns, life is lost

(31-01-2012 03:30 PM)BnW Wrote: How do you know it was 3km to the nearest camp? How do you know they could have treated her? And, if they could, how do you know they could have fed her and kept her alive? It's not like this is the only starving child in Africa. She is 1 of thousands. Maybe 1 of tens of thousands. Maybe 1 of hundreds of thousands. Is his moral obligation to this one kid only? What about to all the kids he did not stop to photograph and you have never seen? What is the obligation to them? I have no idea what happened to that girl but, judging by the picture, I assume she died. If you think there was anything a photographer could have done to change that, I think you are deluding yourself and putting blame in the wrong place.

And, speaking of blame, since I'm sure you realize this kid is one of many, what are you doing to save them? Anything? Are you volunteering time? Giving money? Bringing food? Anything at all? Or, is it just "out of site, out of mind" for you?

Because numeous stories on the photo claim it was 2-3km away. And it's irrelevant whether they could have helped her or not. We will never know because he left her there. Also, who cares how many starving children like this there are? Becuase there are thousands more means it's okay to be inhuman to this child?

It's not out of sight out of mind. I don't have the resources to help financially and wouldn't trust a charitable organization's spending if I did. I'd personally fly there with pallets of bottled water and oatmeal if I could. But I can't. This guy had a perfect opportunity to do the right thing and he didn't. As a matter of fact, I'm actually apphalled that more people in this forum aren't condemning his lack of action. Can any of you honestly say that you also would have left her there? If so then what I said about him goes for you too.

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect.”

(31-01-2012 04:17 PM)germanyt Wrote: Because numeous stories on the photo claim it was 2-3km away. And it's irrelevant whether they could have helped her or not. We will never know because he left her there. Also, who cares how many starving children like this there are? Becuase there are thousands more means it's okay to be inhuman to this child?

It's not out of sight out of mind. I don't have the resources to help financially and wouldn't trust a charitable organization's spending if I did. I'd personally fly there with pallets of bottled water and oatmeal if I could. But I can't. This guy had a perfect opportunity to do the right thing and he didn't. As a matter of fact, I'm actually apphalled that more people in this forum aren't condemning his lack of action. Can any of you honestly say that you also would have left her there? If so then what I said about him goes for you too.

First, it's irrelevant if they could have helped her or not? So, the criteria for humanity is not to actually do anything helpful, it's just to stop and do .... something. Is that it? That really makes no sense to me at all. And, as for what you can do, this "I don't have the resources" is a pretty big cop out given the expectations you set for other people.

Finally, I have no idea what I would do if it was me. I have on idea what the circumstances are. I like to believe I would have done something. Everyone believes, if it was them, they would have done something. Statistics, however, show that an overwhelming number of us would not have.

Shackle their minds when they're bent on the cross
When ignorance reigns, life is lost

(31-01-2012 04:17 PM)germanyt Wrote: Because numeous stories on the photo claim it was 2-3km away. And it's irrelevant whether they could have helped her or not. We will never know because he left her there. Also, who cares how many starving children like this there are? Becuase there are thousands more means it's okay to be inhuman to this child?

It's not out of sight out of mind. I don't have the resources to help financially and wouldn't trust a charitable organization's spending if I did. I'd personally fly there with pallets of bottled water and oatmeal if I could. But I can't. This guy had a perfect opportunity to do the right thing and he didn't. As a matter of fact, I'm actually apphalled that more people in this forum aren't condemning his lack of action. Can any of you honestly say that you also would have left her there? If so then what I said about him goes for you too.

First, it's irrelevant if they could have helped her or not? So, the criteria for humanity is not to actually do anything helpful, it's just to stop and do .... something. Is that it? That really makes no sense to me at all. And, as for what you can do, this "I don't have the resources" is a pretty big cop out given the expectations you set for other people.

Finally, I have no idea what I would do if it was me. I have on idea what the circumstances are. I like to believe I would have done something. Everyone believes, if it was them, they would have done something. Statistics, however, show that an overwhelming number of us would not have.

Absolutely ridiculous. Humanity, in this case, would have been taking this girl to get some sort of medical attention. Especially considering how close they apparently were to a camp. IMO he should have felt obligated to do just that little bit. He failed. He's just like those people in China that walked by that little girl on the street after she had been run over by a box truck. Just walked by and looked.

First by the white van.
Then by a brown van
Then this guy and like 3 other peopel are seen on camera walking within 20 feet of her and no one helped her.

(27-01-2012 03:50 PM)kim Wrote: João Silva, a Portuguese photojournalist based in South Africa who accompanied Carter to Sudan, gave a different version of events in an interview with Japanese journalist and writer Akio Fujiwara that was published in Fujiwara's book The Boy who Became a Postcard.

According to Silva, they (Carter and Silva) went to Sudan with the United Nations aboard Operation Lifeline Sudan and landed in Southern Sudan on March 11, 1993. The UN told them that they would take off again in 30 minutes (the time necessary to distribute food), so they ran around looking to take shots. The UN started to distribute corn and the women of the village came out of their wooden huts to meet the plane. Silva went looking for guerrilla fighters, while Carter strayed no more than a few dozen feet from the plane.

Again according to Silva, Carter was quite shocked as it was the first time that he had seen a famine situation and so he took many shots of the children suffering from famine. Silva also started to take photos of children on the ground as if crying, which were not published. The parents of the children were busy taking food from the plane, so they had left their children only briefly while they collected the food. This was the situation for the girl in the photo taken by Carter. A vulture landed behind the girl. To get the two in focus, Carter approached the scene very slowly so as not to scare the vulture away and took a photo from approximately 10 metres. He took a few more photos before chasing the bird away.

Two Spanish photographers who were in the same area at that time, José María Luis Arenzana and Luis Davilla, without knowing the photograph of Kevin Carter, took a picture in a similar situation. As recounted on several occasions, it was a feeding center, and the vultures came from a manure pit waste:
We took him and Pepe Arenzana to Ayod, where most of the time were in a feeding center where locals go. At one end of the enclosure, was a dump where waste and was pulling people to defecate. As these children are so weak and malnourished they are going head giving the impression that they are dead. As part of the fauna there are vultures go for these remains. So if you grab a telephoto crush the child's perspective in the foreground and background and it seems that the vultures will eat it, but that's an absolute hoax, perhaps the animal is 20 meters.

On 27 July 1994 Carter drove to the Braamfontein Spruit river, near the Field and Study Centre, an area where he used to play as a child, and took his own life by taping one end of a hose to his pickup truck’s exhaust pipe and running the other end to the passenger-side window. He died of carbon monoxide poisoning, aged 33. Portions of Carter's suicide note read:
"I am depressed ... without phone ... money for rent ... money for child support ... money for debts ... money!!! ... I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings and corpses and anger and pain ... of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners ... I have gone to join Ken [recently deceased colleague Ken Oosterbroek] if I am that lucky.

That is the other side of the story i have heard. People are so quick to judge without having all the information. Just like the Bible thumpers who say they love God and Jesus yet hate so much. I was glad to see your post, we don't see eye to eye at times but this time you are right on the spot.

(01-02-2012 05:19 PM)germanyt Wrote:

(31-01-2012 08:21 PM)BnW Wrote:

(31-01-2012 04:17 PM)germanyt Wrote: Because numeous stories on the photo claim it was 2-3km away. And it's irrelevant whether they could have helped her or not. We will never know because he left her there. Also, who cares how many starving children like this there are? Becuase there are thousands more means it's okay to be inhuman to this child?

It's not out of sight out of mind. I don't have the resources to help financially and wouldn't trust a charitable organization's spending if I did. I'd personally fly there with pallets of bottled water and oatmeal if I could. But I can't. This guy had a perfect opportunity to do the right thing and he didn't. As a matter of fact, I'm actually apphalled that more people in this forum aren't condemning his lack of action. Can any of you honestly say that you also would have left her there? If so then what I said about him goes for you too.

First, it's irrelevant if they could have helped her or not? So, the criteria for humanity is not to actually do anything helpful, it's just to stop and do .... something. Is that it? That really makes no sense to me at all. And, as for what you can do, this "I don't have the resources" is a pretty big cop out given the expectations you set for other people.

Finally, I have no idea what I would do if it was me. I have on idea what the circumstances are. I like to believe I would have done something. Everyone believes, if it was them, they would have done something. Statistics, however, show that an overwhelming number of us would not have.

Absolutely ridiculous. Humanity, in this case, would have been taking this girl to get some sort of medical attention. Especially considering how close they apparently were to a camp. IMO he should have felt obligated to do just that little bit. He failed. He's just like those people in China that walked by that little girl on the street after she had been run over by a box truck. Just walked by and looked.

First by the white van.
Then by a brown van
Then this guy and like 3 other peopel are seen on camera walking within 20 feet of her and no one helped her.

I suppose if they were all photojournalists stopping to get a Pulitzer Prize winning picture it'd be alright if they had just left her there? amirite?

SMH

I not going to judge you but what do you do over seas to help? Have you personally got your hands dirty? Have you faced a gorilla army or anything like that? Try to put yourself in his shoes for one minute. I couldn't do that job and I am being honest about it. It takes a special person to do it. I lost one of my good friends that went over there. He was a good camera man. I had to edit hours of his footage. That was the 80's and the drought with death everywhere. I cried every night for a year. The images have been burned into my head for life and I didn't go there. I did this for PTL and the David Livingston Foundation. You have no idea what you are talking about.